Misinformation works fine
Last week, some articles about Bitcoin popped up in mainstream portuguese newspapers. The typical arguments from 2015 emerged: criminal activities and it requires too much energy. One of them argues the money is responsibility of the state and that previous experiences of money emission by private entities ended up badly. Another one argued that Bitcoin is attractive because it is easy money but right now it is too expensive to buy Bitcoin since a single coin costs €40k. All of them pointed to the fact that Bitcoin wastes energy and contributes to global warming.
Some myths are just lies and others were all debunked years ago but who cares?
I assume that people who want to learn about something will search information from the experts, read specialized sources, visit thematic forums, etc. Not everyone, apparently. Some article in a normal newspaper is enough for some people to make their own minds about the topic.
So far nothing new, right? We all now this is how it usually works, but yesterday I was served a pretty clear example that it really works like a charm.
I was talking to a friend of mine who is about to buy an electric car. Tesla came up in the conversation... that led to Elon's decision to buy Bitcoin... and that led to the reason why I'm writing this post. My friend told me he was been looking into Bitcoin, he read some articles in the last days and decided not to buy because:
- It is too expensive. There's no way he's gonna invest €40k.
- Bitcoin harms the environment because it wastes too many energy.
And that's it. Decision made. Problem solved. Instead he invested 25k in three "sustainable funds".
Just to be clear: I'm not suggesting it's a good idea to invest in one thing instead of another. I'm not advocating Bitcoin. I'm not agains funds. I hope his funds are solid and successful. I'm not a financial advisor. And above all, none of this is my business.
I just had a free demonstration how effective massive misinformation can be.
RMach
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